Film and adventure come together for Invermere skier

“Sometimes a young guy just needs a great opportunity to set him on his way.” That’s what Scott Martin, CEO of Strategic Direct Marketing Group (SDMG), said when he decided to sponsor Parker McGrath of Invermere to help him realize his dreams.

SDMG is an innovative marketing company based in Calgary whose lengthy client list includes a number of cat-ski operations throughout BC. Martin, who is a passionate snowboarder, does not shy away from admitting the obvious benefits of marketing cat-ski operations.

At 14, Parker is an avid skier and outdoorsman with his sights set firmly on a life of adventure as a ski guide and extreme life photographer/filmmaker. Recently, Martin decided to share in his good fortune and invited McGrath to meet and work alongside some of the who’s who in the ski/snowboard film, publication and web world. He was invited to ride shot gun on 2 epic weekends of cat skiing with K3 Cat Skiing out of Sicamous and Fernie Wilderness Adventures (FWA).

His weekend at K3 included a film shoot with Joel Whalens of Jah Raven Creations who is currently gathering footage for his upcoming ski and snowboard movie with DBFilms, “What’s in the Fridge?” Parker was able to learn firsthand about staging, positioning, lighting safety and a realization of how much equipment lugging and grit hard work is involved in a 3 second cliff drop. Evenings were spent hanging out with skiers and snowboarders that have appeared in a number of films.

March 5-7, Parker was able to meet and hang out with Vince Shuley a professional photographer for Big Lines and the pro skier he was travelling with at FWA’s back country lodge. After a full day experiencing FWA as a regular guest, Parker was invited to tail Coleen Gentemann who spends her life photographing FWA’s guests.

Aside from massive practical photographic and film making experience Parker gained, he was also able to put his search and rescue training to real world use as one of the snowboarders hit a tree far in the back country and suffered a badly broken humorous; Parker assisted in the sled extraction out.

At 14 years of age most young men hardly know what they want to be when they grow up. Not only does Parker know, he has already been fortunate enough to work side by side with people that are at the top of his chosen vocation. Parker, who already has his Avi-1 certification, has also had some back country training from Roko Koell, a heli guide with CMH.

With opportunities like this and the overwhelming generosity of people like Martin, Koell and the kind support of SDMG, it won’t be long before you’ll be admiring an epic shot in your favorite ski magazine that Parker took or being thrilled at a session in a film that Parker shot. In other words, it won’t be long before a young local kid’s dreams are realized.